Hi guys, quick question: Is there a difference between a radio and radio modem? Thanks

 

Hello,

Perhaps this links shines some light on your question:
http://www.kantronics.com/modems.html

Bertus

 

Thanks bertus... that was helpful.

Another question I had for anyone and everyone is what a developer board is? They usually come with radio kits I guess? What are they for and how do you use them?

Here's an example I just looked up: http://www.microhardcorp.com/MHX2420-dev-kit.php

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

 

Hello,

Not all development boards have a reciever or transmitter.
There are some that have transmitter / recievermodules for it.

Development boards are for trying out some applications and refine them.
One application of the use of an RF path can be an outdoor weather station.
Outdoor there can be a broard with sensors like temperature, light, wind, dust-density and so on, that transmits them at regular intervals..
Indoor there can be the reciever to display and record the data from this outdoor unit.

An other application could be the remote control of a robot.

Bertus

 

MicroHARD....thats funny.

 

OK that makes sense, but just to clarify, you normally don't just buy a radio receiver and trasmitter... you use developer boards and/or some other board to hook the radio rx/tx's up to... you can't just buy the modules themselves and use them per se? Using the boards also allows you to connect to the boards by other means, for example RS-232?

 

Hello,

There are many different development boards.
Each can have its own purpose.
Take a look at the mikroElektronika site for more details:
http://www.mikroe.com/eng/categories/view/1/development-tools/

They also have some free books and articles online:
http://www.mikroe.com/eng/categories/view/4/publications/

Bertus

 

You need something to transmit.

For a fun little project, I use the EasyPIC6 as a dev board for my PIC, and connect that to a transmitter. That way, the information that I receive and process on my uC is then communicated to the transmitter via I2C or SPI.

Now the transmitter is told to transmit. On the other end, I use a smaller dev board to receive.

It consists of a power supply another PIC, the receiver, and an LCD display.

On the EasyPIC6, I use the on board temperature sensor, read it with the PICs build in ADC, then communicate that to the transmitter.

Across the room, on my receiver board, the temperature of the EasyPIC6 is displayed on the receiver boards LCD.

This is a nice easy way to get data flying through the air quickly.

Dev boards save lots of time wiring and soldering. I recommend the EasyPICs. Very powerful. On board power supply, ICD programmer/debugger, USB, rs232, etc..